SKYRIMLE HUD comparison - Less Intrusive HUd II vs. Minimal HUD

[FMiller]

Hi folks,

 

this is a little summary/comparison of the two HUD mods 'Less intrusive HUD II' (LiHUD) and 'Minimal HUD for Skyrim' (MinHUD).

 

 

I honestly think that STEP should feature at least one of them because (imho)

1. the HUD is one of the most important factors for immersion

2. the vanilla HUD is god-awful

 

There are several HUD mods out there but I picked these two because they offer the most flexibility. If you know of other HUD mods with similar functionality please let me know.

I tested LiHUD in version 1.1 and MinHUD in version 1.0

 

So here we go...

 

 

Basic Functionality

----------------------

The foundation of both mods is the same: move and scale the HUD elements (health bar, magicka bar, compass, ...) as you wish. There are some differences though:

 

LiHUD:

+ you can edit some more hud items that MinHUD does not cover (e.g. subtitles or the activate button)

+ you can rotate items

 

MinHUD:

+ you can edit width and height of items independently allowing you to make 'slim' versions if you want

 

 

User Interface

------------------

Both mods feature an MCM to set serveral of their options. What I want to talk about here is the way to set up the HUD.

 

LiHUD: In LiHUD you modify the HUD in a special view where all HUD elements are visible. You select the desired element and then move/scale/rotate it by pressing keys. This is great because you can directly see the result of your settings.

 

MinHUD: Everything is done from the MCM by moving sliders, so you cannot see the results until you leave the menu. This makes setting up the HUD a bit awkward.

 

 

Advanced features

------------------------

Both mods offer some unique options which I briefly cover here

 

LiHUD:

+ an alternative compass (which I like more than vanilla)

+ an alternative sneak meter (which I like less than vanilla)

+ options to toggle what is seen on the compass (quests, enemies, unknown locations,...)

+ ability to choose the way the status bars deplete (e.g. 'from right to left' - MinHUD has it fixed to "from edge to center")

 

 

MinHUD:

+ different crosshair types

+ an extra crosshair for aiming, visible only while holding down the mouse button when firing a ranged weapon or spell. This is cool because that's the only occasion I really want to see a crosshair.

+ options to toggle what is seen on the compass. Less options than LiHUD and you cannot hide enemies and locations idependently - why??

 

 

Built-in presets and user presets

-----------------------------------------

LiHUD: LiHUD features one preset which is pretty cool but doesn't really fit my tastes. It's a good starting point though. Unfortunately there is no way to save your own presets so you have to set everything up from scratch when starting a new character.

 

MinHUD: MinHUD has two built-in presets that don't fit my tastes either, but it allows you to save your own presets to file which you can then reload when starting a new character.

 

 

Compatibility with iHUD

-----------------------------

This will be important to a lot of iHUD users and I can say that both mods work equally well with iHUD.

 

 

Bugs/issues

---------------

Following is a list of problems I had with these mods. Please note that a lot of people don't seem to have those so it might be caused by my load order or whatever. You have to check for yourself.

 

LiHUD:

- HUD items being out of place when leaving the modification screen or after loading a saved game

- some compass elements I toggled off were still visible

- crosshair could not be scaled

 

MinHUD:

- HUD disappears completely when drawing a weapon while riding a horse

 

 

Conclusion

--------------

I think both mods are amazing and I cannot recommend one over the other.

- HUD editing in LiHUD *looks* far better but when actually doing it, it's not that much faster or more convenient really. Also, in MinHUD you do it only once, save your preset and are done.

- LiHUD has more hud items to edit and it has the best compass options (when working as intended) of any mod I've seen so far. MinHUD on the other hand offers the best crosshair features around.

- both mods have some issues that might affect different players more or less depending on playing style.

 

Ultimately it's a tough choice and mostly a matter of personal preference. Too bad we can't use both :(

 

 

Links

-------

LiHUD - https://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/35154/

MinHUD - https://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/33482

[Kelmych]

You didn't mention what has always been one the biggest issues for me with HUD mods, namely compatibility with compass marker mods like NACMIM (one of the STEP mods).

[Lauren]

LI-HUD:

INCOMPATIBILITIES:

Any mod that modifies the hudmenu.swf/hudmenu.gfx file

Colored markers are ok, as long as the changes are made in map.swf

Still the compass markers are inside the hudmenu file, so colored compass markers is not an option.

MiniHUD:

If the HUD elements are out of place or don't look like in the screenshots [...]

2) go to your Skyrim installation folder. The following files MUST NOT exist Skyrim\Data\Interface\hudmenu.swf, Skyrim\Data\Interface\exported\hudmenu.gfx - If one or both of these files exist, make a backup and delete them

3) If it’s still not working try to deactivate all other mods (excluding iHUD) which alter the HUD (crosshair mods, compass mods, etc.)

Looks like "none" re: compatibility unfortunately :confused:

[Kelmych]

In order to provide the colored markers you need to use the NACMIM hudmenu.gfx . Perhaps someday one of these alternate HUD menus will provide colored map markers as part of their mod or learn to coexist with another mod which provides a version of hudmenu.gfx with colored map markers. I haven't seen any HUD mods that can make use of the colored map markers in map.swf; you end up with colored markers on the map but black and white ones on the compass.

[FMiller]

You are right. I should have added that info to my review.

But does STEP recommend the full version of NACMIM? In that case, wouldn’t it conflict with Simple Crosshair, which is a STEP mod as well?

 

Anyways, I contacted the author of MinHUD and his response sounds encouraging

I’m aware of these incompatibilities but there’s just no way of having the additional hud stuff (like different crosshair types) without directly altering the flash files.

I could however provide a slightly less powerful version with most of the core functionality intact that does NOT need hudmenu.gfx.

Should be quite easy now that I think about it. I’ll give it a try and keep you informed.

[Kelmych]

You are right. I should have added that info to my review.

But does STEP recommend the full version of NACMIM? In that case, wouldn’t it conflict with Simple Crosshair, which is a STEP mod as well?

 

 

 

Correct. The NACMIM version that includes map icons on the compass isn't compatible with Simple Crosshair or any other mod that changes hudmenu.gfx. Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be a mod that provides both colored map icons on the compass and crosshair modifications. 

[Smile44]

The easy solution to this is to reduce the transparency of the HUD so that it is barely noticeable, and of course it can be kept off so only use when needed - I barely notice it or use it except when exploring but even so it is a bit of a cheat. As is the cross-hair, just disable it and learn to aim. All problems solved and immersion increased.

 

:)

[Eliian]

Simple crosshair and NACMIM are actually compatible. They do not overwrite each other in any way. I use both without any issue.

 

It is a shame though. Hopefully the LIH mod author adds colored map markers soon. That would be great.

[Captiannoob]

So why does STEP recommend full NACMIM if Simple Crosshair overrides it?

[Eliian]

That is true. Sorry. The compass colored markers no longer work if it is installed. I'm assuming it was just an over site. If i'm not mistaken STEP originally didn't suggest the full version? Can be fixed in the next version surely.

[EssArrBee]

Minimal HUD has updated to have a LIGHT version that does not mess with hudmenu.gfx, so maybe it could be considered for testing as mod that allows HUD configuration and is compatible with NACMIM.

[FMiller]

I got MinHUD Light and it has some nice additions (mainly hide activate button and hide sneak text) as well. And it solved the only problem I had with it (horse combat).

 

I tested it for nearly a day and I think it's really great, probalby the best HUD mod right now ( I even kicked iHUD for more flexibility).

 

For STEP I would recommend the following:

NACMIM Full + iHUD + MinHUD Light + maybe an official STEP preset for download(?)

 

I don’t think that Simple Crosshair should be on the list anymore. If you can only have one hudmenu.gfx mod on the list it should be NACMIM FULL, MinHUD FULL or LiHUD… IMHO of course.

[Freyrgjurd]

I got MinHUD Light and it has some nice additions (mainly hide activate button and hide sneak text) as well. And it solved the only problem I had with it (horse combat).

 

I tested it for nearly a day and I think it's really great, probalby the best HUD mod right now ( I even kicked iHUD for more flexibility).

 

For STEP I would recommend the following:

NACMIM Full + iHUD + MinHUD Light + maybe an official STEP preset for download(?)

 

I don’t think that Simple Crosshair should be on the list anymore. If you can only have one hudmenu.gfx mod on the list it should be NACMIM FULL, MinHUD FULL or LiHUD… IMHO of course.

I can only agree with this. With Minimal HUD Light on the table, wich provides the effect of simple crosshair mod and other neat features, IMHO the NACMIM + MinHUD provides the best combination.

 

EDIT: Simple crosshair mod effect =/= crosshair scale. The Light version of Minimal HUD doesn't have different CH types, but still adjustes the Scale of vanilla crosshair.